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Transgender Day of Remembrance

Hagerstown
TDoR Events

Candlelight Vigil 2018

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City Proclamation 2018

 

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. During the week of November 14-20, individuals and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming people and address the issues these communities face, and the entire month of November in many areas has become known as Transgender Awareness Month or Transgender Health Awareness Month.

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What is TDoR?

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) was started by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence that year and began an important memorial that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. "The Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." ~Transgender Day of Remembrance Founder, Gwendolyn Ann Smith

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Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) is an international day of mourning for the transgender persons who have lost their lives, through murder or suicide, in the past year. TDoR is also a day when we renew our commitment to stand with the transgender community whenever their rights and dignity as human beings are under attack.

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TDoR serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our brothers and sisters in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that transgender persons are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives allies and transgender individuals a chance to step forward and stand in vigil, memorializing those who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

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How to Participate:

Participate in the Transgender Day of Remembrance by attending Hagerstown's Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil on the square in downtown Hagerstown on November 20th from 6-7pm.

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  • Flameless candles will be available for you to hold and display.

  • Light refreshments will be available.

  • A sign and memorial display will be displayed but feel free to make a sign of your own to hold if you like memorializing an individual or stating a transgender awareness statistic, or a simple phrase like "Every Life Matters".  ​

  • Share the event with others who may be interested in attending. The bigger the group we have, the larger the statement we make.

  • In addition make plans to attend the City Proclamation at City Hall. Date and time to be announced for the proclamation soon!

 

Most importantly it is a time for us to come together to make the statement that here in Hagerstown transgender lives really do matter. Let us Remember the lives lost, bring Awareness to our community, show Support to our transgender neighbors, and provide them Hope for tomorrow: Together we can rid the world of this RASH of hate!

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